Getxo and Santurtzi
Contrary to popular belief, Bilbao is not technically a port; the city lies about 10km southeast of the Ría de Bilbao (the estuary) and the port itself sits in the town of Santurtzi. On the other side of the estuary is the town of Getxo, an affluent residential area of Greater Bilbao, Vizcaya’s third largest municipality, and home to the closest beach for the region. On this gorgeous hot day I decided to go check out the beach.
I took the metro to Santurtzi, about a half-hour ride, and emerged on the west bank of the Ría, right at the level of the bustling port. As in all other waterfront areas in Spain, there was a very walkable promenade at the water’s edge, as well as many restaurants and cafés, not to mention lots of people already strolling around. As I looked around, however, I realized that my goal to visit Getxo across the water wasn’t nearly as close as I had imagined when I planned the trip. I guess subconsciously I had wanted to see all the boats on this side, so straying this far out of the way was, in fact, a happy accident.
As I looked south towards Bilbao, I realized that I was in a perfect position to view and, later, actually cross the mouth of the Bilbao river via one of the coolest modes of transport I’ve ever had the pleasure of using: Bizkaiko Zubia (or Vizcaya Bridge), an iron bridge that is really a gondola that carries pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and cars back and forth from one bank of the estuary to the other or, technically, from Portugalete to Getxo. I managed to catch the whole crossing on video and was surprised how incredibly quick the whole process was: a minute, the whole thing took 60 seconds from one side to the other. Of course loading and unloading took a lot longer, but the actual crossing really is super fast.
Excited at the prospect of floating above the water for a minute got me moving faster but since I didn’t know I could use my Barik metro card here too, I ended up wasting time purchasing a ticket in a machine, causing me to miss my ride. Since I had a few minutes now, I decided to climb up to the platform that was above the little “station” to get a nice look from above. In no time at all the gondola was back, however, and I settled in for the crossing and by “settled in” I mean I got a standing spot as close to some four-legged passengers I was sharing the space with. Soon it was time to go and we started moving. Too quickly (it was a whole minute) we were on the other side and in Getxo. It was interesting to see how the cars and motorcycles all fit on board and how, in general, the whole trip was incredibly smooth and easy. I wouldn’t mind having this bridge as part of my daily commute.
On the other side I decided to follow the promenade which took me to a park and a tree-lined jetty but I only visited the Evaristo Churruca-ri monumentua, or monument to Evaristo de Churruca, the first Conde de Motrico, the engineer responsible for much of the construction of the Port of Bilbao. From here I was able to walk along the lovely sandy beach, also called Playa de las Arenas, which I find quite amusing since almost all cities with beaches have one called this … but, really, the name is just “Sandy Beach” which isn’t a name but a description, no? Am I the only one to find this odd? I am? Oh …
It was a very warm day and all the walking I had done up to this point was making me a bit more tired than I would have liked, so I decided to find a place to have a little lunch and cool down with a clara or two. To find a place I had to head inland a bit as there didn’t seem to be any restaurants by the waterfront. There were, however, many very nice residential buildings and a swanky-looking yacht club; this was definitely an upscale neighbourhood and the buildings and their lush gardens spoke big money. I have to admit that if I had a lot of money, this would definitely be an area I would enjoy living in. Alas, for now I could just look.
My hunger drew me to the commercial part of Getxo where I found a plaza with a number of restaurants lining each side. I chose one at random and ordered refreshments and some roasted mushroom caps that were supposed to be the house specialty. As I sat there drinking, eating, and reading my book, my rest time was interrupted by a couple of men sitting at the next table. I had already noticed them, as they were discussing the ongoing Euros football tournament, and since I knew something about that my interest was peaked. Long story short, I ended up spending a couple of hours there chatting with these two, one from Colombia (I think) and the other a born-and-bread Basque! Yes, my first real, live local I could chat with a bit. Both were nice to start with and it was fun chatting with them, but at some point, Unai, the local, decided that he really wanted much more from me than I had ever considered and pretty soon the conversation deteriorated down to him wanting to suck my toes and me wanting to run away as quickly as I could. Which was a shame because I think he was (at least at first) quite interesting but then something went off in his head (probably the booze) and he became much too forward, totally missing the point that being like that is not a turn-on for most women. It’s all quite a shame, to be honest, because it would have been nice to become friends with some locals who could show me around, introduce me to good eateries, or maybe show me something not in a travel guide (not that I read those anyway). As it was, I quickly found a reason to take my leave and made my way to the metro.
On the metro I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely creature, though his name I did not get, mostly because I was busy petting and talking to him:
